The Elysian Fields
by Meriah
Summary: Lucario afterlife story . I noticed myself in a location unlike any I had traversed when alive. No longer was I locked within my body, rather I was amorphous... This place was desolate, like the tundra of a dreamless slumber. Where was Aaron-sama?


**Meriah's Note: **Lucario is my second favorite pokémon. I was drawn to him the instant I watched "Myuu to Hadou no Yuusha Rukario" ("Mew and the Wave-Guiding Hero Lucario"). If you have access to subtitles or understand Japanese, I highly suggest you watch it, as it is arguably the greatest of the Pocket Monsters films.

That said, I have desired to write a Lucario story for quite some time now. I began one in October, and now, a pitiful seven months later, I found it hidden in a folder while I was clearing through files. I had completely forgotten about it!

Well, the lovable blue canine can no longer be ignored, and so here it is: The first chapter of a short fic in which Lucario searches for Aaron in the afterlife. I realize the theme is not original, and please forgive me for that. At the time when I first wrote this, I was unaware that such stories already existed. That said, I have tried to increase its charm with a peculiar sidekick.

I think you'll like this.

* * *

_There Chairon stands, who rules the dreary coast. _

_A sordid god: down from his hairy chin, __a length of beard descends, uncombed, unclean. _

_His eyes, like hollow furnaces on fire. __A girdle, foul with grease, binds his obscene attire.__  
_

_- _**Vergil**_, _a Roman poet._ Aeneid, _Book 6.

* * *

Only one thought orbited within me when I entered the afterlife: Find Aaron-sama.

I awoke, and noticed myself in a location unlike any I had traversed when alive. No longer was I locked within my body, rather I was amorphous and ethereal. Perhaps bliss should have swam through me, but this was desolate, like the tundra of a dreamless slumber. There was no sunlight, sound, temperature, or even a gust of wind – just an interminable wasteland with a dark river sauntering through the center, and the sky was a repugnant yellow.

There was something bizarre about the water. It was lentic; there was no current. And there was nothing in it, not even my reflection. A limitless shield of blackness which refused to cease. When my paw grazed the surface, it was solid like opaque glass.

If but for the pounding of my heart, the silence would have overcome me.

Where was he? Where was anyone?

Anxiety churned inside, yet my body resisted to quiver or react in another way. I wanted to scream, but that would prove to be futile – no one was out there.

Why was it I could walk, kneel, and jump, only to be unable to display emotions with physical reactions? Was it psychosomatic?

To compensate, my gift to sense auras flared. My signature rushed through the plains, scanning anything for a evidence of consciousness. I picked up on nothing, and it was then that my fear caved in on me...

Death should not have been that way... so eerie, alone, stark.

The living are ignorant of what transpires after passing into the next world. Their bodies, which are merely vessels of the soul, become their obsession – not due to vanity, as some may claim, but because it is all they understand. In a reality where everything is tangible, it is impossible to comprehend a formless one. Few know of how they came to be, why they continue to thirst for materialistic pleasures, and how to conquer their darkest selves. They emerge from their muscle-and-sinew chrysalises with nothing but fear.

Like me.

Yes, I was such a victim. I thought the knowledge of the universe and its processes was already within me; after all, I was regarded as intelligent. Yet I was wrong. _Very wrong._ Looking at this void before me, it was difficult to believe enlightenment can be achieved even in death.

All would agree that the physical kingdom is a hostile, callous one. Humans and pokémon endure through their lives, oblivious they are the temples preserving their genuine selves. These selves are always stored away; some left to wither, while others mature into the most pure of energy. Then only after their final breaths are these selves set free to rise like brilliant phoenixes.

This said, I was finally free. I was unbounded.

I should have been blissful, and yet... the afterlife was meaningless without _him._

A part of me felt my mission was nonsensical as I followed the river, although somehow my hope to see him again was far stronger.

If that place was the domain of the living, time would have passed for hours. Maybe days. But time is a linear concept, and thus superficial there.

Luckily, the barriers of exhaust and hunger were ineffective. I had no bodily limitations. Maybe that kept me going...

My determination, though, was thinning.

Later I entered a new realm, and was stunned by the vista before me. The sky, once that putrid yellow, transformed into a cloak of the darkest blue. Clouds were ablaze with colors although it was well past twilight. Stars, as if to defy natural law, spritzed across like pixies. Yet the landscape was just as magnificent: A grove of trees reached their branches into the ground, and ferns painted the shoreline.

The river changed as well. Once dark and inactive as an obsidian snake in slumber, it now meandered through trees with clear water. I followed it with my gaze, and then...

My aura-reading abilities sensed a presence: An entity round as the moon and black as its umbra, floating in my direction. Strange... until now auras never been mysterious to me. What person, creature or thing it manifested was inscrutable.

Any soothing emotions which blossomed from the attractive scenery gave way to another pang of anxiety. Whatever it was, it was primordial – a product of this abode for the deceased, seemingly timeless as creation and destruction themselves.

Then it noticed me.

Instinctively, my canine nature overcame anthropomorphic traits. With a quadruped position and my head lowered, I passively initiated the encounter. It was not like me to be submissive, but in foreign territory under such circumstances, my confidence was kept hidden.

I slowly traveled forward, awaiting the orb to take true form and strike. Beneath that exotic sky it edged closer, its shape becoming even more spectral – a single flame.

For a fleeting minute I found my legs obscuring my tail, yet the action was dismissed. Some things, no matter how natural, are too brutish and subservient.

And the phantom was now before me... and it dug out my core with a telepathic voice as piercing as the January wind: "Newcomer, what brings you here?"

I was startled – I had not expected sound in this place, and the question itself was awkward. If in a calmer mood, I would have chuckled: I was there because I was dead. How foolish.

"Oh, true. Very true. I did word that oddly, did I not?" it said with a macabre laugh. It accurately read my thought, and in that moment I realized it was an exceptional psychic. It floated inches before me, swaying like a feather on a breeze. "What I meant to ask, of course, is _why_ you are here. Surely you are dead, yes? But what beyond that?"

Before I could answer, it stated: "You are here for the knight, the Hero of the Wave, are you not? You seek to reunite with him once again."

I blinked.

"Yes..." I answered, flabbergasted, at a complete loss of stating anything more detailed.

"Splendid! Just as I thought. How right I always am!"

"Do you know where he is?" I asked with formality to facade childish expectancy.

"Do I? Oh, yes, that I do. I know where everyone and everything is, that I do."

At this point any dread I had for the apparition had faded into a myriad of conflicting emotions. I was grateful to be in the presence of another being, and hope rushed through me at the thought that it may know where Aaron resides. Yet I also had a distaste for the creature. It was honestly, well, annoying.

"A loyal pokémon you are, Lucario. This is certain as night and day, yes."

It was then that I began to understand. The entity was a fellow pokémon, and this accounted for why my fear had subsided.

"Pokémon are expected to be devout to their masters. And yes, they are. They fight for the glory of their masters. Oh, yes, how it is better than being alone to the elements, this I do know." It paused for a time long enough to render a sea of silence, both in communication and gesture.

If in its earthly form, I knew it would be gazing into the scarlet pools of my eyes.

"A strong, altruistic pokémon you are now, although I do recall when you were in the realm of the living. You had been deluded by betrayal, had you not?"

A chill inched down my spine. "How... how do you know this?"

"How would I not?" it snickered. "Oh, do not think I am a god, I am not. Or a legendary pokémon as humans say."

Questions emitted from me, but the pokémon disregarded them with jester-like antics and conundrums. With a sigh, I allowed it to be amused despite my irritation; after all, it was my one companion.

More importantly, it was the key to finding Aaron.

* * *

**Ending Note:** I know the title fails to currently relate to the setting. That will be fixed ^^;

Ah, this is a pleasure to write. There will be more. Stay tuned!

Reviews are welcomed and encouraged!

Until next time,

Meriah


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